New car sales down 6% as car companies face turmoil
Now Registrations To Of New 2022 Back Cars Are Levels Electric
The number of new cars registered in Ireland during July dropped nearly 6% as numerous car companies continue to deal with the falling demand in the electric car market and increasing competition.
Data from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) shows that there were 25,736 new car registrations during the month down from 27,336 during the same month last year. The largest fall was seen in electric cars with 3,147 registered, down 24.7% year-on-year.
This is the first month of the new 242 licence plates in Ireland and is traditionally seen as a strong period for the sector.
Petrol cars continue to lead the new car market accounting for nearly 32% of registrations while diesel stands at nearly 23%. Petrol-hybrid cars account for 20.7% while full electric cars account for 13.3%.
SIMI director general Brian Cooke said July continued the trend seen in recent months with a decline in new car sales with electric car sales now back to 2022 levels.
“Last year saw several electric car incentives reduced, including the SEAI Purchase and Home Charger Grants, while Benefit-In-Kind (BIK) for company electric cars is scheduled to increase significantly in 2025,” he said.
“We need decisive actions in the Budget to arrest this slide and to reignite Ireland's electric car momentum.” This data comes as Volkswagen, Toyota, and BMW all posted their latest financial results.
Volkswagen said it will need to make “significant cost-cutting efforts" in the second half of the year and beyond if it is to revive profit margins.
Volkswagen is revamping its line-up globally with bespoke electric car models in particular for the Chinese and US markets as it tries to fend off competition from the likes of Tesla and BYD.
Volkswagen posted earnings before interest and taxes, for the period April to June, of €5.46bn, down from €5.6bn euros a year earlier.
Toyota on the other hand posted a 17% increase in profit during its most recent quarter as its own cost-cutting programme and weaker yen helped offset lower sales and a decline in production at home.
The world's top-selling automaker said operating profit for the three months through June totalled 1.3 trillion yen (€8bn). However, shares in Toyota declined by 8% as the results — which saw the weakest growth in over a year and a half — left investors disappointed.
BMW reported a lower-than-expected profit margin in its core automotive segment during its second quarter, hitting its shares amid heightened competition and weaker demand in China.
The Munich-based carmaker saw a 4% slump in its China sales in the first six months of the year but performed better in the region than Volkswagen and Mercedes.
The automaker's earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margin in its car segment fell to 8.4% from 9.2% in the same period last year.